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Is Primerica a scam?

icerat said:
Still deceptive IMO.
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Never said it wasn't deceptive. Just clarifying that it's not a job offer nor do they say the usually say word interview, but say things in such a way that one could infer it's an interview instead of a sales pitch.
 
Spindrift said:
Never said it wasn't deceptive. Just clarifying that it's not a job offer nor do they say the usually say word interview, but say things in such a way that one could infer it's an interview instead of a sales pitch.
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I didn't mean to imply you didn't :)

If one is deliberately wording stuff in a way that is deceptive, rather than there being an honest misunderstandings, then it's a clear breach of the DSA Code of Ethics. It's probably also against Primerica rules, but I've been unable to find a copy.
 
One of the interviewers on my team a few years back called a random individual for a market research survey. The respondent goes through the whole thing, then starts flattering my interviewer, saying how great he was on the phone (not untrue). He tells him he’s got this great opportunity, they’re coming to London to open an office and they would consider him running it. I was monitoring the call and took the number down and the name of the company, Primerica.

I’m not that bright, but I know there isn’t an honest company in the world that has reps promising office manager jobs to 20 year old call center interviewers, no matter how great they sound... I never called and didn’t do any research on them but I know garbage when I smell it.

We screen and interview candidates to be interviewers for $11/hr, but other companies start you off with your own office, with a crazy income, based on how charming you are on the phone... Sure! Where do I sign up?

[[Bonus opinion: Amway is a legal scam. Things is, the average start-up makes no money ever and those who stick it out a year or two hardly ever make near minimum wage. ]]
 
icerat said:
examples?
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Homeopathic medicine and weight loss supplements are legal scams. MLMs are legal scams.

Also, a very large percentage of the stocks that trade on the OTC.BB and Pinksheets are scams. Some experts claim about 99% of them are scams. So many of these stocks are "pump and dump" schemes, designed to rip off ordinary investors while enriching the insiders. This is technically illegal, but some scammers figure out ways to get away with it.

Many of these companies get investigated by the SEC and/or the FBI, and some even get prosecuited and shut down(and sometimes the executives get short prison sentences), but all too many are allowed to continue to exist. They will often change their name and ticker symbol to hide a very ugly history of fraudulent activity.

Oh and even though the SEC discovered that 80% of GllobeTel/Sannswire/World Surveilance Group's revenues were fraudulent, and the former CEO is in prison, it is still allowed to trade! It has "new management".
 
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Zelenius said:
Homeopathic medicine and weight loss supplements are legal scams.
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Not all weight loss supplements are scams, and not all are legal. Are large percentage of advertised weight loss supplements (perhaps even a majority) are illegal scams because they're using false advertising.

Similarly with homeopath.

MLMs are legal scams.
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Not all companies claiming to use MLM are scams, and not all are legal. Indeed it's quite possible, even probable, that at any given time most companies that advertise themselves as MLM are not legitimate MLM and are in fact illegal pyramids. That doesn't make MLM a legal scam, it makes these companies illegal pyramids.

When you look at the top direct selling companies though, virtually all of which use multi-level compensation plans, many of them have been around for many many decades and have been thoroughly investigated and cleared, both of fraud and other illegal activities.

This is technically illegal, but some scammers figure out ways to get away with it.
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If it's technically illegal then it's illegal full stop.

Many of these companies get investigated by the SEC and/or the FBI, and some even get prosecuited and shut down(and sometimes the executives get short prison sentences), but all too many are allowed to continue to exist.
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Why? Is it because they're legal or a lack of resources?

They will often change their name and ticker symbol to hide a very ugly history of fraudulent activity.
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sounds like they're actually illegal, just haven't been caught

Oh and even though the SEC discovered that 80% of GllobeTel/Sannswire/World Surveilance Group's revenues were fraudulent, and the former CEO is in prison, it is still allowed to trade! It has "new management".
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One would hope that means something has changed that allowed them to keep operating. Again though, sounds like they weren't operating legally before at all, so are just plan old scams, not legal scams.

It sounds to me like what you're referring to as illegal and/or scam isn't the MLM part - it's more something to do with a scam product, or false advertising etc etc. All things which are already illegal.
 
Being legal and being a scam can go hand in hand:

Amway
Homeopathy
Chiropractics
Applied kinesiology
Acupuncture (or anything with the prefix "acu")
Psychics
Lie detection
Criminal profiling
Religion

Et j'en passe...
 
icerat said:
Not all weight loss supplements are scams, and not all are legal. Are large percentage of advertised weight loss supplements (perhaps even a majority) are illegal scams because they're using false advertising.
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Which weight loss supplements are not scams? Wait, let me guess, Herbalife? Do you have any science to show that these weight loss supplements work?



icerat said:
It sounds to me like what you're referring to as illegal and/or scam isn't the MLM part - it's more something to do with a scam product, or false advertising etc etc. All things which are already illegal.
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False advertising is the heart and soul of MLM. They wouldn't survive without pitching the idea that becoming a distributor for their product(s) will lead to wealth. In the very least MLM seminars are very misleading, when you consider than so few people ever make money from them, except for those at the top of the pyramid. It is also misleading since the independent distributors are the main market for these products.
 
Zelenius said:
Which weight loss supplements are not scams? Wait, let me guess, Herbalife? Do you have any science to show that these weight loss supplements work?
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There's lots of different products that have been shown in clinical trials to aid weightloss, such as some carb and or fat absorption blockers (recent study, older one). Heck even something as similar as supplementing with fibre helps.

False advertising is the heart and soul of MLM.
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evidence?

They wouldn't survive without pitching the idea that becoming a distributor for their product(s) will lead to wealth.
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Why? Got any evidence to support that?

Amway shut down all sponsoring in the UK for nearly 2 years pending a court case (which they won). They continued to have millions of pounds of sales turnover. In China the government banned all direct selling for several years. Amway opened stores and became one of the largest foreign companies there.

In the very least MLM seminars are very misleading, when you consider than so few people ever make money from them, except for those at the top of the pyramid. It is also misleading since the independent distributors are the main market for these products.
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1. Every MLM I've seen is very clear that few people make a lot of money. It's a statutory requirement to point this out.

2. Given you think there's a "top of the pyramid" then you clearly aren't well informed in this area. First of all most MLMs are less "pyramid shaped" than traditional distribution, so it's a silly moniker. Secondly if you define "top" as in "joined earlier", then the vast majority of the top earners in MLMs are nowhere near "the top". The make much more than people "above" them.

The only option left is you're in a self-referential tautology, defining the person at "the top" as the person who makes the most money. In fact, in the vast majority of MLMs, the person "at the bottom", ie the last link before consumer, makes the most money on any sale.
 
Maurice Ledifficile said:
Being legal and being a scam can go hand in hand:

Amway
Homeopathy
Chiropractics
Applied kinesiology
Acupuncture (or anything with the prefix "acu")
Psychics
Lie detection
Criminal profiling
Religion

Et j'en passe...
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8 out of 9 ain't bad. Could you provide expert independent research backing up your claims for all of these?
 
godless dave said:
Also Avon.
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I meant to add AA, but there's a lively thread for that...

I don't personally have much of a problem with Avon. They don't seem to promise crazy riches and the women (mostly) pretty much know that they are just providing a service for a few friends. I feel the same about Yves Rocher. They really seem to focus on taking your order, as opposed to trying to turn everyone into a sales rep. This is just from personal experience through the years, it could be that they're just as bad and I didn't notice.
 
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